The 22-foot-tall (6.7 m), 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) bronze fountain, cast in
Paris, was a gift to the city by
Gardner Brewer. It began to function for the first time on June 3, 1868. It is one of several casts of the original, featured at the
1855 Paris World Fair, designed by French artist
Michel Joseph Napoléon Liénard; other copies with minor variations can be found across the world, including the
Steble Fountain in
Liverpool or the
Tourny Fountain in
Québec. At least sixteen other copies exist, including one on Av. Cordoba y Cerrito in Buenos Aires and in
Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The fountain is decorated with the figures of
Neptune,
Amphitrite (Neptune's wife), and
Acis and Galatea, a couple from
Greek mythology. It fell into disrepair and finally stopped functioning entirely in 2003. A major repair project began in 2009. After a year-long $640,000 off-site restoration led by sculpture conservator Joshua Craine of Daedalus Inc., it was re-dedicated on May 26, 2010. ==See also==